


I came to your window last night

by torigates



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, First Date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-28
Updated: 2012-07-28
Packaged: 2017-11-10 21:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/471005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By the time Wally and Artemis actually got around to going on a date (and actual date date, not just spending time together where they made out), it was April.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I came to your window last night

By the time Wally and Artemis actually got around to going on a date (and actual _date_ date, not just spending time together where they made out), it was April. 

Years later, when Artemis retold the story (unjustly in Wally’s opinion) she would always give him a hard time about it taking literal _months_ between when he made his first move and actually getting her out on a date. 

“I played hard to get,” Artemis said. 

Wally glared. “As I recall you were quite easy.” 

That earned him a smack in the gut. 

“Ouch,” he said, rubbing his stomach. “Sheesh, it was a _joke_. And in my defense, there was always villainy getting in the way of us leaving the cave. And our teenage hormones.” 

Artemis smacked him again. 

“Oh come _on_ ,” he said. “I don’t remember any complaints at the time.” 

Artemis glared, but it was the kind of glare where she was trying to cover a smile. It was one of Wally’s favourite expressions. 

 

-

 

It went something like this: 

Wally couldn’t pick her up at her apartment, because Artemis refused to let him come by. 

“If you even _think_ about coming to my apartment, West, I will eviscerate you,” she told him. 

Wally thought she was probably kidding. There was a ninety-five percent chance she was kidding about the physical maiming. 

“Is it because you don’t want me to meet your mom?” he asked. “Because let me tell you, babe, I am _great_ with parents. She would love me.” 

Artemis grumbled under her breath. Wally thought she said, “That’s the problem,” but he couldn’t be sure, and he wasn’t crazy enough to ask her. He was also smart enough not to push it. He wasn’t super thrilled about the idea of Artemis meeting his parents, though his mom had already asked him to invite her over for Sunday dinner three separate times. So far Wally had been able to beg out of it, but sooner or later his mom wouldn’t take no for an answer, and then Artemis would be at his _house_ talking to his _mom_ , and that just wouldn’t be good for anyone (and by anyone he obviously meant himself). 

So Wally didn’t push her about the whole picking her up at her apartment thing, but that meant they were just meeting at the cave, which was fine but not ideal. The problem with leaving from the cave was that _they were always at the cave_. It didn’t feel special or different enough. This was supposed to be a date. Their _first_ date. 

He should have taken that as a sign. 

Wally brought flowers. Like a tool. (Rob’s words, not his.) 

Artemis looked shyly pleased when he presented them to her, which was an expression he rarely got to see on her. Wally leaned down and pressed his lips against the faint blush on her cheek. 

“Thanks,” she said. “I’m going to go put these in water. She wandered off in the direction of the kitchen (where Wally was almost certain M’gann and Zatanna were waiting). He stood awkwardly in the cave entrance waiting for her to come back. 

“You brought flowers?”

Wally jumped a foot in the air. Robin appeared at his side out of nowhere. 

“Holy fuck!” Wally exclaimed. “ _Make noise_!” 

“You brought flowers,” he repeated. “Like a tool.” 

“What?” he asked.

Robin shook his head. Conner and Kaldur appeared at the entrance way, and walked over to where they were standing. 

“I can’t believe you brought her flowers.” 

“What’s wrong with flowers?” Wally asked. 

“Nothing,” Kaldur said at the same time Rob said, “They’re overplayed.” 

Wally ignored them. “Okay, well you can get lost now,” he said. 

“Oh no,” Dick said. “No way.” 

Wally turned to Kaldur who was standing firm, and Conner who was smirking. “We wouldn’t miss it.” 

“I hate you all so much,” Wally groaned. “I just want you to know that.” 

Robin opened his mouth to reply, but before he could get anything out, the girls appeared. Meg and Zatanna looked absolutely gleeful. Artemis looked positively murderous. It had been a while since Wally had seen that expression directed at anything other than villains and himself. 

“We’re going,” she bit out, and grabbed his arm. 

Wally spared a half-hearted wave at the others over his shoulder as she pulled him through the zeta tube. 

“Are you okay?” he asked once they were clear. 

“Peachy,” she grunted. 

They were moving quickly down the street, and Wally took a minute to realise a) he had no idea where they were, this was _not_ part of his grand romantic plan, and b) she was still gripping his wrist tightly, dragging her along behind him. 

“Hey,” he said. 

She ignored him. 

“Artemis,” he tried. And again when she didn’t stop or turn to face him, “Artemis.” Finally, he dug in his heels, and just stopped moving. “What’s wrong?” he asked. 

She turned to face him, and sighed. “Nothing,” she said. Wally watched as she pushed some non existent strands of hair out of her face. He noticed she did that when she was nervous or upset. So far he had refrained from saying how cute he found it. “Really,” she said again. 

“That didn’t seem like nothing,” he said. Her fingers were still curled around his wrist. He reached out and untangled them before she could do any permanent damage. “It kind of seemed like a whole lot of something.” 

Artemis sighed again, and Wally knew she was physically restraining herself from lashing out at him. And hey, progress! 

“Did the girls say something?” he asked. 

“No,” Artemis grumbled. Wally arched an eyebrow. “Yes.” 

“Oookay,” Wally said, not sure what the problem was exactly. “Do you want me to go beat them up?” he asked. “Because they’ll totally kick my ass, but I’d try for you, babe.” 

Artemis laughed a little at that, and he saw most of the tension go out of her. 

“Where are we?” he asked after a moment, instead of pushing her for more details. 

She looked around. “Um,” she said. “I’m actually not sure.” 

Wally couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Well,” he paused. “I’m sure we can find somewhere around here to eat. It’s not like I had anything planned.” 

That was the wrong thing to say, apparently. Artemis’ face shut down. 

“No!” Wally said. “Not with the face. Don’t make that face,” he pleaded. He tugged on her hand, and the two of them sat down on the curb. He put his arm around her shoulders. “I totally did have something planned.”

“You did?” she asked, and leaned into him a little. 

“Of course,” he said. “What, you thought I was just going to wing our first date?” He looked over at her. “You did.” She had a guilty expression on her face. “You _totally_ did, babe. What do you take me for?” He laid a dramatic hand over his heart. “I know how to treat a girl right.” 

She looked skeptical. 

“Okay so I don’t have any, er, _hands on_ experience, per se, but my mom raised me right. I brought you flowers, didn’t I?” 

“You did,” Artemis confirmed, smiling a little. “What else were we going to do?” 

“Well,” he paused and scratched the back of his neck, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “Okay, don’t laugh, but there’s a park by my house in Missouri with an ice cream shack like right by it and I thought we could...” he trailed off at the look on her face. “You hate it,” he said. 

“No,” Artemis said faintly, and then, “No! I don’t hate it. That sounds really sweet, Wally.” She leaned over and gave him a kiss on his cheek, her hand resting firmly on his knee. “That sounds really nice.” 

They sat quietly side by side for a moment. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked after a moment. 

“No,” she said, then sighed. “Yes, I guess.” 

Wally nodded but didn’t say anything. 

“It’s just--” she broke off, sounding frustrated, and Wally squeezed her shoulder a little. “M’gann, Zatanna--” 

“What did they say?” Wally asked. 

“Nothing!” Artemis said. “Really, nothing. They were just teasing me about us finally getting our act together, and I don’t know, it freaked me out a little.” 

Wally nodded, and pulled her close to him again. “It’s a big deal,” he said.

“It is a big deal.” She was quiet. “It’s good. Really good. I’m just--not used to it.” 

Wally bent his head and kissed her shoulder. He wanted to say something that would make everything okay. He wanted to say something that would undo all the things in Artemis’ life that made her feel like she had to get used to good things happening to her. He wanted to protect her, and maybe that was the real reason the two of them had delayed taking this relationship outside of the cave for so long. Because once it was out in the world for real, then it was more than just the two of them, more than just the team. There would always be other things that were trying to get at them, get between them. Wally figured neither of them could really be blamed for wanting to put that off. If only for a little while. 

He kissed her again, and Artemis turned so she could look into his eyes. They sat like that together, until finally Wally’s stomach rumbled with hunger. She laughed. 

“Can’t take you anywhere,” she teased. 

“It’s true,” he said, before getting to his feet, and pulling her up with him. “I’m sure we can find somewhere to go.” He looked around a little. 

They ventured off together.


End file.
